1.67/4.00

1.67/4.00

EE 111

Freshman
N/A
Required (Major)
Nov 2003

Out of all my teachers this year, this teacher had to be worst one I ever had. He talked to us as if we were all 3rd years with background in this major when half of us had never even taken phyics. I think that this example well say it best. One day we were in class and he was talking about binary code, i had never known how it worked and asked him and he was "what you don't know binary code?, I thought they toaght this in 8th grade!" this wasn't the only time this happened the instructer expect much more out of the student then we could give. and when we would ask a question he would explain it the same way.. which obivulsy didn't make no sence the first time and i don't know why it would make more sence the 2nd time, which it didn't. O and for presention materials his labs would always be wrong so if you printed out befor class, when you walked in you would need to print out a new one. My friends had other teachers for this class and they said this class was easy becuase there instructer actully told them how to do things they understood we didn't know anything which i guess this teacher didn't understand becuase even though we told him he never changed his ways.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2003

If your a freshman and are new to EE, then this is not the best teacher to start off with. He expect you to know a lot about the material you will be learning. Sometimes he can be rude when you approach him about a question. Gives too way much work for an one unit class. But most of the homework will not require you to do a lot of hard math or physics, just a lot of research and tedious work. If you want the history of electrical engineering, this teacher will give it to you. If you want to start off slow, go find someone else, anyone else. Oh and if you think the lab book in the lab for this class is bad, he worte it.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2003

Arakaki has got to be the most boring teacher out there. He never changes his tone which makes it really hard to stay awake. He kind of assumes everyone knows what he's talking about so if you have trouble you're kinda screwed. He also gives useless assignments but that may because it's an intro course. I'd suggest taking someone else.

Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2004

First off I'd like to say that this class was being taught for the first time, and Professor Arakaki usually teaches upper division classes which is probably why he had some difficulties that I'm about to list. Arakaki is a real nice guy and easy to approach, but for a 1 unit class he really did assign WAY too much work. I took this class as a sophomore, when it is supposed to be a freshman class, and had it not been for some of the other classes that I had already taken (Physics 131, 133, Math 141-143, and EE 112) this class would have been extremely hard. Arakaki expects a little too much from freshmen, who are the ones mainly taking this course, hopefully he realizes that in the future. One final exam, which was pretty damn hard with NO notes, but I think he curved it a good deal. Bottom line: nice guy, but needs to realize that this is a lower division class.

Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2004

This course wasn't very material intensive, it was basically show up do the assignments and do the final and you get an A, but from what I could tell he wasn't that prepared for class, and he seemed kind of anal. He also didn't really have any clue what students knew...like whether they knew math, or algebra, or anything like that...kind of silly, but he's probably used to teaching upper division courses.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2004

Dr. Arakaki is a very nice man and an awesome teacher. He may not present the material using simplistic concepts, but he clarifies the material well when you see him outside of class.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2005

PROFESSOR ARAKAKI MAKES EE 111 MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT HAS TO BE. HE PRESENTS MATERIAL FAST AND CONFUSINGLY. I WAS ORIGINALLY FAILING THE CLASS, BUT THEN I STARTED GOING TO HIS OFFICE HOURS AND EMAILING HIM QUESTIONS AND ENDED UP GETTING THE BEST GRADE IN THE CLASS... HE IS A VERY NICE GUY AND IS WILLING TO HELP STUDENTS AT ANY COST...

Freshman
F
Required (Major)
Dec 2005

he's one sided especially with the ethics section. he makes the classes harder than it is and he asks stupid questions on the final like what does IEEE stand for. WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH EE111?!?!!

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2005

Arakaki was an overall nice guy and easily approachable however his negative qualities in this course far surpassed these positive ones. He seems to know the material that he teaches well, but has difficulty teaching lower level students. I think that he would probably be a good professor for higher level courses. He also seemed rather unprepared and frazzled at the beginning of every class. He would rush in in a hurry and start setting up his computer. He took this course a little to seriously as well, getting mad at students if they were looking another way. It is simply an intro class and I don't think we covered the history of EE enough to have to know on the final that Jack Kilby invented the intergrated circuit. Overall he was a nice guy, but a space case. I don't think he always understood questions. If you do take this class with him be careful of his ethics lecture. He says he wants your opinion on downloading mp3s, but in reality he wants to yell at you and use the class as his soapbox. Also be prepared to hear about his amazing Anechoic chamber every time your in his class.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2006

He loves what he's teaching. Which is nice. However, he seems to forget he's teaching EE 111 and the difficulty of the class is ridiculous. He grades the assignments closely and marks everything. It's not hard to get a good grade; go to class and do the homework. The final is mostly short answer, so be prepared. Read through his slides on blackboard.

Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2006

He should not be an intro teacher. He knows what he's talking about, but can't put it in terms that we can understand. He wastes a huge amount of time in class and then when something actually confuses the class he rushes through it. For example the first two of ten classes were spent learning the other peoples names and where they're from. Then when he starts teaching us math that we'll need for the next four years of our academic lives, he talkes about 20 minutes. He also goes out of his way to make his students feel like nothing for any mistake, and everyone else sits there watching him be a dick. It's an easy class and my advise is show up, do the work, take notes on the math, and agree with him. with that you'll get a good grade.
After one quarter, I never want to have this man as my teacher again, and it was one of the easiest classes I had. One quick assignment a week and a final that was a bit harder then expected it's an easy class, but the only reason you show up is because it's 75% of your grade. I left learning nothing and I hate wasting my time like that.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2007

He's not the greatest professor and he tries to cram everything into that 1 hour a week. As long as you do the assignments and go over them before the final you'll get an A easily. effff his powerpoints....

Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Aug 2007

The man is far too serious for an introduction class. If you don't do the assignment EXACTLY the way he wants it, you get screwed on your grade, regardless of justification. Take for example an assignment question (paraphrasing, of course): do you think downloading music online is right? why or why not? I answered that I did think it was right because music is like commercial time for the artists and that makes consumers go out and buy their products (apparel and whatnot). I got an F on the assignment.
Anyway, it wasn't that it was a single instance. The things he delves into during the lectures are really not that important to EE and are just more of topics that would entice "yeah ok so what" kind of thoughts to run through an already tired engineering student's mind.

Junior
A
Required (Major)
Aug 2007

For a introduction lecture for the EE major, one hour per week, this isn't a bad class, but I find it rather useless. Arakaki goes through the weekly power points and honestly tries to engage the class in discussion and get people interested. The only problem, most of the time, it's not very interesting. He takes the class pretty seriously for such a basic class. My biggest problem with how he ran this class is the final: he was really vague on what it was going to be on, and it was almost impossible to effectively study for it, which furthermore makes it difficult to earn a good grade on the final. But don't worry about that too much. Take this class with Arakaki, and you won't be either pleased or disappointed.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Oct 2007

This class was cake. He took attendance every time, so you had to show up. I think we had to run to the library a few times too, although I just used the internets to get around that. The final was bad, nobody did that good on it because the lectures were so boring and nobody actually studied anything. He curved insanely at the end though, so I guess that's how I got an A.
The guy reminds me of a goldfish.

EE 151

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2004

I believe that he is a great teacher. We only had one test, the final exam, and it directly related to the work we had done in the labs. He is also very generous when he curves the class. Although, it was an entry level course and he was not out to fail people. I recommend that you take this teacher.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2004

Cal Poly Must NOT Have!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2004

This class was being offered and taught for the first time, so the professors all had a lot of errors to correct in teaching this lab (some of the labs were WAAYYY too long and some didn't have too much relevance). Arakaki is a fairly good professor, but like what other reviewers say, he assigns a lot of work. In a few of the labs where I heard other lab professor were skipping chunks out of the labs to save time, Arakaki had us do it all. However, he was extremely helpful in lab and all you had to do is ask when you got stuck and he'd help you figure it out. I think for a 1 unit class he made the workload a little too heavy. The final exam was fair, he let us use our notebooks (word of advice, go back and write down EVERYTHING that you did and even questions that you answered from post labs, into your lab book because they will show up on the final). Arakaki is a good lab teacher, and once they get this course figured out in a couple of quarters he should be a great guy to have.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2004

Arakaki is not the best at teaching. He often makes things WAY too complicated. He will take a simple concept in an intro course, for instance, and ramble on it for half an hour (eating away at the time we have to do the lab) and confuse you even more than his confusing lab instructions are. The biggest problem lies in the layout of the class (which he designed): not giving EE students an intro to the EE material. Half the material covered requires some sort of previous knowledge of other EE material. If you enjoy learning on your own, Arakaki isn't that bad (besides the fact that he takes half the lab time to explain everything).

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2005

Mr. A is an awesome professor. The material was not that easy, especially for those of us who had no electrical background, but he was very good during lab times to help us out, and even better in his office hours. He knows his stuff and he goes out of his way to help us understand it. He also gives excellent curves.

Freshman
A
Required (Support)
Apr 2005

motherfucking bitch

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Oct 2005

Simply put, the best teacher ever!

Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2006

For the labs, Arakaki didn't really explain what to do...He just came to the bench and did the lab for us, more or less. None of us really knew what to do for the homework, since we didn't understand the labs. This class made me want to drop out of EE, more or less.

Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Jan 2007

Arakaki knows a lot about EE. The only thing is that he is horrible at the teaching aspect of being a professor! In lab you start with a quiz, which is fairly easy as long as you read the lad write up. After this, he lectures about the lab for about an hour. This is where he talks for non stop at high speed. You cant follow anything he says within this hour! Then you are stuck not knowing what to do once you actually have the chance to start the lab. If you're lucky you'll have a good partner and a good class. I was lucky enough to be in a great class where we all helped each other because we all felt the same. We were all failing! Luckily he grades a a huge curve because he has too!

Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2007

Arakaki is smarter than you and he wants you to know it. He criticized me for not knowing MatLab. How the hell is a first quarter freshman supposed to know MatLab? He's very condescending and seems dumbfounded and just scratches his head when you dont understand something. I dont think anyone told him its a freshman course. But like all EE labs theres a huge curve because, as I said, theres no way you know anything about what you're doing. I had like a 67% going into the final and I think I got about a C on that and a B in the class, so don't worry to much about your grade. Hes probably OK for upper level courses, but hes a dick for 151. Labs are due every week (they take forever), quiz on the upcoming lab every week and a final at the end.

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2008

I dont hate very many people, but Arakaki is one of them. Basically become good friends with everybody around you and help each other out in the labs because Arakaki basically just stands there and criticizes your work and makes you feel dumb. There's a huge curve at the end though, i had a 70% which turned into an A-

Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2010

Dean Arakaki is an alpha-male. A renaissance man. A modern day Leonardo da Vinci, or \"Neo-Vinci,\" if you will. His expertise span every subject that ever existed. The only downfall to this juggernaut of a human being is that he is just too smart. He spends sleepless nights tossing and turning in bed while his brain can\'t help but derive multiple equations simultaneously. He reaches out to peers only to be shut down by there ignorance and lack of knowledge. He struggles to understand other people around him because he just can\'t relate... Students portray him as a beast. A heartless monster. Assignment after assignment due for every class. Midterm and presentations due on consecutive days. But all he can do is look around and stare in awe over a classroom full of pupils that just don\'t understand. \"Who said life was fair?\"

EE 201

Junior
A
Required (Support)
Mar 2008

A bit unreasonable in his requests for what you should know for a 200 level class. Within the first couple weeks he said "You should know this from Controls," unfortunately, 201 is a pre-req for controls. It almost seemed like he didn't know how to teach a lower level class. Both midterms weren't unreasonable, the final was pretty hard. Averages were around the %50 range. No homework, but weekly quizzes (usually on Fridays at the end of class). Quizzes weren't that bad if you were in class and paying attention somewhat. He NEVER made it through a whole lecture, he always got about 3/4 of the way through it because he'd get so sidetracked or caught up on one problem (once on one we didn't even need to know how to do). He did allow you to have a bunch of note sheets for tests, and I'm hoping he curves or else a lot of people are failing. Overall, a not so great teacher for 201.

EE 241

Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2009

If your pride gets hurt easily, stay far away from Arakaki. This guy would seem spectacular for an upper division course. But for something like 241, he's simply way too tough on his students. Get comfortable with seeing red ink all over your lab reports, with way too many points marked off for dumb things like saying "can't" instead of "cannot". Prelabs and quizzes are graded way too hard as well; quiz grade averages are horrible and the class average hovered around 60% all year, so don't freak out about your grade too much. I must admit, once this class is all said and done, you will learn something (mostly because you'll work your ass off to just to keep up with the curve). So while Arakaki may be on to something with his ridiculous grading inspiring students to work harder, it's just WAY too stressful for a one unit lab (and only the second EE lab we have taken so far as well).

EE 251

Junior
C
Required (Support)
Dec 2008

This guy is ridiculous. I think he just assumes we know too much. Quiz averages were usually less than 50%, and lab averages less than 70%. For a 1 unit class, I think he expected too much. I would NOT recommend this professor. However I must add, that he is probably one of the nicest profs aside from his outrageous grading.

EE 335

Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jun 2012

Dr, Arakaki's lectures were somewhat entertaining. But the material was harsh and I had a feeling he was being nice to us. Overall, I'd take him again.

EE 346

Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jan 2013

Honestly worst lab professor I've ever been misfortunate enough to encounter. I'm sitting his lab as we speak as he tells us we have to redo our prelabs because his emails didn't get to half the class. Wastes an hour and a half of lab talking about things that don't pertain to the lab. Gives everyone D's and F's on labs because he expects a bunch of stuff in the reports that we don't know about. Waste of life and a GPA killer. Not helpful, expects you to know how to do everything even though the lab manual sounds like its from 1865. Seriously avoid this dude at all costs because this lab sucks enough as it is.

EE 375

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Nov 2007

HARD AS HELL!!!!! Put in the time, do the work, attend office hours, and he will back you up all of the way. Do not do these things, fail miserably, miss graduation, and take him again so that you learn the material. Getting a C in the class truely means your understand the material.
TAKE HIM!!! HE IS THE NICEST PROF IN THE EE DEPARTMENT!!!!
JON F.

Senior
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2007

I am going to try my best not to curse...but it will be hard.
At first glance he seems like a really nice guy...but don't let this fool you. He's a dick. One time during his mini lecture before lab he totally singled me out in class for not paying attention. I in fact was it was the other turds in class that weren't. I really didn't appreciate that.
Let me just say this: If Breitenbach and Arakaki were both teaching the same lab, I would choose Breitenbach IMMEDIATELY. That' saying a lot. Arakaki has some VERY strange expectations in his lab class. After 3+ years of EE labs I thought I knew how to write a decent report but Arakaki says I don't. (im not the only one who felt this way). He cannot grade consistently and really cannot tell you what he wants because I don't think he knows what he wants from his students.
This is an important lab too since he brings together a LOT of concepts from 335 and 402. If I were you, I'd take someone else like Ahlgren or Jinn if you want a more pleasant experience.
The only good thing to say is that if you hang in there and put a lot of work on the labs and do decent on the final, you'll be ok. His saving grace is his huge curve. He has to curve a lot since he fails everyone on every lab...
Try to avoid him if you can.

Junior
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2007

This guy knows how to teach, even in lab. He was able to clearly present the material and really helped when we got stuck on parts of the lab. The only thing is that his grading style is unpredictable. He'll give and take points where you would never expect it. If you want to learn about electromagnetism, take Arakaki!

Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jun 2011

Arakaki is one of the best professors in the EE department. His main goal is to prepare students to become professional engineers that represent the EE department at Cal Poly well. All of the lab reports are covered with his red pen ink because he is trying to teach students how to write a professional report. Also, his pre-lab lectures taught me the transmission line material way better than I had learned in 335.

Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Apr 2015

His labs are more like a 4 unit class. Have to write two reports per week. Grades prelabs, lab reports, and lab quizzes pretty harshly(ex highest grades were high 50's) compared to the rest of the department. Expects you to explain measurement errors when most of the time he doesnt understand it. Heavily advise against his labs, better off getting a TA. You wont learn much, and the work is not worth it.

Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
May 2015

?

Senior
D
Elective
Jul 2015

DO not take this teacher. Arakaki does not grade fairly and he cannot teach. He gives a lot of work and there is no way you can study for his test. You are setting yourself up for failure taking his class.
Also, people are right about his lab. He expects perfection, but he does not realize its a 1 unit class and that he doesn't know how to teach? I would spend more time in his 1 unit lab then some of my 3 unit classes and still end up with a D. Seriously, this guy is an asshole.

I'm currently enrolled in his lab for spring quarter and wanted to write this after only 4 lab meetings. I have taken almost every ME professor and almost every EE professor now that im a 6th year EE, because of switching majors. Without a doubt, Arakaki is 100% the absolute worst teacher in the EE department, and easily the worst professor ive ever had in my entire life. He will do the exact same thing every lab and you will have absolutely no idea what is going on. He spends the first 2 hours of class writing useless equations on a topic we havent learned yet. He will constantly ask the class if they have learned a certain subject and every single one of them will say no, then he pauses, says we should already know it, then continues writing equations (EVERY TIME). He doesnt explain anything about the lab you are doing that day and wont be able to answer any question you ask him during the lab, just the same reply that you should already know it. For the lab reports he LITTERALLY wants it to be perfect, spelling one word wrong is 2% off the report grade. He gives almost no resources on how he wants the reports to be formatted or how to write them. After following every single instruction given to us and doing exactly what he requested, which was wayyyyyyyy beyond any report ive ever done, hell still manage to nitpick your report and give you an F. Then, he spends the next lab class basically saying how bad everyone did and pointing out all your mistakes without any real reasoning, other than some notes scribbled in red pen. He will always say this is because he wants "professional reports" to prepare you for the job world, which is a complete and utter lie. I have done numerous internships and co-ops, and throughout all of the work I did for those companies, there was never a single problem with any report I had to write-up for them. Arakaki is an electrical engineer trying to be a teacher and fails miserably in every catagory possible. DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER EVER! You will regret it the second he starts talking. For a junior level 1-unit course, this teacher is a disgrace to the EE department in the way he teaches it and should be fired immediately if not for his tenure. The only way to do good is either have him tell you in office hours exactly what he wants word for word, or find someone whos actually gotten good lab grades and litterally copy and paste their reports. Just remember, if you dont have the knowledge of a graduate level EE, then you will most likely fail this course.

Junior
C
Required (Major)
Jun 2017

You know, i really did hear some terrible things about Arakaki before i started his 375 lab. I heard the horror stories of people failing his lab while others in Ahlgren's lab never turned in a lab and got an A. I thought, why not? I want to learn! and if he's hard it must be because he forces you to master the material right? "F" no, thats a lie, a cloud of fake nonsense masked in his shroud of "RF material is hard anywhere." Ok, i will give him this, i am now a smith chart legend, any problem i have my compass in my pocket constantly, but where i lost points was in the dumbest things. I forgot the capitalize Smith Chart on a lab report once and BAMMM, -10 out of 40, no joke i would attach a photo if i could. Oh wait, do it a second time, BAMM WAMM BOOM -20 out of 40, don't write an essay to explain any answer you put on a quiz, zero points, and at the end of it your so discouraged you aren't excited to learn the material anymore. All in all though, make a dialogue, try hard and you will get passed, with a D. Enjoy suckers haha P.S. He is a huge surfer, has santa cruz SURFLINE on his PC all the time and his wetsuit tan is awesome, get him out in the water if you can, I'm sure that'll help your grade!

EE 401

Senior
F
Required (Major)
Nov 2002

This professor was just very difficult. I would say that he is the hardest professor that I ever took in my life. His exams are impossible. Also, he fails many students.

5th Year Senior
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2002

Professor Arakaki is a very good teacher. He is brilliant in the topic of electomagnetic feilds, antennas, and transmission lines and offers very helpful handouts that he puts on blackboard for help. It is true, his exams are difficult, but if you know what is going on, you can do well on them. I did horrible on the first test, and gradually got better and ended up doing fine in the course. The hardest part of the class is the matlab code he expects you to brilliantly come up with without having any experience in coding in matlab. The best way to avoid this problem is to just not bother doing it. Sure, you lose 15 points on your hw score, but you save a sleepless night and then some. Take Arakaki because you will learn. He is very helpful in office hours and is a very hard-working professor.

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2002

Dr. Arakaki is very difficult. Don't be surprised with MT averages in the 30's. For our first exam, an 11 would de considered about a D (avg = 33 and stddev=22). The homework is helpful, but it is his discussion questions that you really need to focus on. The tests are extremely hard, but he is very approachable. Overall a very nice but difficult prof.

Junior
B
Required (Major)
Feb 2003

first off, ee401 isn't an easy class to begin with, the material is harder than 334. the fact that arakaki teaches this course doesn't help either. he is a very tough professor, his test average is usually between 30 and 40 percent. he isn't the greatest lecturer, but he's a really nice guy and willing to help you in office hours. as far as the matlab code goes, dont bother doing it, it'll take many many hours, its not worth much, and you are not tested on it. i do recommend doing the homework. it's worth 10 percent, but if the class average is 40 or 50 percent, hw makes a big difference.

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Feb 2003

No respect for a teacher with a 30/100 avg.

5th Year Senior
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2003

As far as lecturing goes... It didn't help one bit. I went to less than half of his lectures. Arakaki's real talent is on paper. Reading his on-line notes and HW solutions is the only way to survive in his class. He's an excellent writer when it comes to the crazy language of magnetic fields propagating in free space.

Junior
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2003

Arakaki was a great great great great teacher. He's very helpful in class and in office hours. I don't know what everyone is complaining about, it's not him it's the material itself that's hard. It's almost impossible to get an A in this class. I know it might say A in the corner of my profile thing but I really got an A- and only two people got an A. So basically you need to be a genius to get an A. Good class very fun stuff just a lot of work.

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Mar 2004

Having EE 401 with Dr. Arakaki is time consuming. If you are not interested in this subject, take the class with another professor and save yourself from the pain. My study group spent an average of 12 hours a week on the homework, NOT including the Matlab assignments. The Matlab assignments added on even more hours each week. Also, his grading on the midterms is pretty brutal. There are no quizzes. Unless you are good at this subject, you will experience much stress. However, if you love electromagnetic fields, or antennas, take him. He knows what he is talking about.

Junior
A
Required (Support)
Aug 2009

Arakaki is a very smart professor. If you pay attention and do the homework you can learn a lot from this guy. I had him the 1st quarter he taught and he pretty much wrote his own book for the classwork. We didn't even use the $100 book from El Corral just his printouts. Arakaki has won a lot of grant money for CalPoly so this guy is seriously smart. Take him, just watch out because sometimes the class averages can dip into the 50% to 30% range. Study that SMITH CHART BOYS AND GIRLS!
He does assume that you know your shit so you may have to study up on some prereq classes. Homework is KEY. Do your homework and if you don't understand get in a studygroup or track Araraki down. He's very willing to help his students since he just loves those electrons and transmission lines. His classes are very calculus intensive so you have to derive and integrate better than frat boys can play beer pong.
STUDY 20-30 HOURS PER WEEK SUCKAS!!!

EE 402

Graduate Student
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2005

If you wanna get a job right after graduation then listen to this guy and learn Antennas/Microwave/Electromagnetic engineering. Trust me the jobs will be falling from the sky. Its a very lucrative specialty that is often overlooked.

Senior
A
Elective
Oct 2010

Arakaki has unrealistic expectations for students when it comes to the amount of homework or the level of math EE students have been exposed to. Rushes through lecture, frequently going off topic and without writing down important points. Makes lots of mistakes and forgets to provide important information. Tests average around 30% and 50% or higher should get you an A. He doesn\'t give much partial credit, even for minor math errors. Also has the habit of adding additional problems to the homework the day before it\'s due. He seems like a nice guy, but I really can\'t figure whether he is oblivious to the amount of suffering he causes or if he relishes in it. Avoid this man.

Senior
A
Required (Major)
Oct 2015

Most of the comments written here are exaggerated. Professor Dean Arakaki is the greatest thing to ever happen to Cal Poly. None of his students truly appreciate what amazing amounts of effort he puts into his classes. Dean truly does care about his students' success.
Dean's subject matter is incredibly difficult to teach, and even the best professors would struggle to teach electromagnetics. Professor Jin has admitted to not understanding the subject, even after teaching it for years. It should come as no surprise that students have trouble understanding electromagnetics and blame their problems on the professor (Dean Arakaki).
Dean Arakaki devotes far more time to creating material for helping his students understand electromagnetics than his students spend copying the homework from his solutions. Solutions which he has written with agonizing detail. If Dean's students actually saw the borderline deranged amount of time he devotes towards them, maybe they would show more respect. The respect this man deserves.
Frankly, I am absolutely appalled at the fact that students at the respectable Cal Poly San Luis Obispo could blame their misunderstanding and stupidity on the subject of electromagnetics on Dean Arakaki, one of the most considerate, caring, and intelligent professors this institution has to offer.

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2015

DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. Not only is he the biggest ASSHOLE of a teacher I have ever experienced, but he is also a complete MORON as well. He expects way too much mathematical knowledge.
For the midterms, he let anyone who could (myself not included, SICK), stay overtime and work on the test FOR ANOTHER 30 MINUTES. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?
He teaches the new shit-tier "flipped classroom" style only the big problem is his videos you watch before class are absolute dogshit.
Never in my life have a felt more murderous intent. This guy fucking blows.

Senior
N/A
Required (Major)
Dec 2015

As many others have said, avoid this professor at all costs. He spends the first ten minutes of every class writing down the agenda that is already projected onto the screen and then erases it. To make up for this lost time, he expects his students to stay past the hour for 10, 15, even 30 minutes regardless if you have class afterwards or not. He will ask a question to the class and no one answers but he will continue right along. He belongs in industry and not in the classroom, worst professor I've ever had.

Senior
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2015

If you do not understand what he is talking about, ask. Otherwise he will assume the class knows what he is talking about and move on. The exams are very difficult and always involve a proof of some sort. He is all over the place in his lectures and has resorted to posting videos of lectures which the whole class (everyone I talked to) stopped watching by week 3. The class is difficult by itself but Arakaki makes it more difficult.

EE 405

Senior
N/A
Elective
Dec 2010

A fucking asshole ever since he\'s gotten tenure.

Senior
N/A
Required (Support)
Dec 2010

seriously, this guy is a dick. He has a terribly condescending attitude towards his students and works them like they have 40 hours a week to devote to his class. Lectures are useless because he\'s always late and unprepared. Totally unprofessional but demands the exact opposite. Stay away. Far away.

Senior
N/A
Required (Support)
Jan 2011

(???)

Senior
A
Elective
Apr 2013

Arakaki? More like Ara-cocky to be exact. We had a better design that gave better results than his "standard model." He was not impressed and insisted our design was flawed. Go figure...

Senior
A
Elective
Jan 2014

Absolutely pathetic. This guy doesn't teach, he just vomits math on to the chalkboard. No physical explanations, no design insight, just an endless stream of hard-to-follow, mistake-filled derivations.
Homework is extensive and consists almost entirely of derivations. Significant point reductions result from minor errors. Midterm averages are usually in the mid 30's, but they can even dip below 20. When that happened he spent the entire class period berating us. Even though there is a substantial curve at the end, such low averages only serve to demoralize and demotivate.
Lab reports must be done to his "professional standard" or they are returned covered in red ink. And when questioned about his requirements it's always, "so, when you get in to industry...". Yeah, Dean, I worked in industry and unlike you my managers were extremely impressed with the quality of my lab reports. Most of his nitpicking is about mundane issues, usually related to sizing, formatting, or "unprofessional" language.
Overall, the combination of homework, lab reports, midterms, and amplifier design project means this class will require 15-20 hours of studying per week.
I really wish the department would fire him, but they won't because he brings in too much money. Maybe they could just lock him in the anechoic chamber so he can't do any more damage.

EE 440

Senior
N/A
Elective
Jan 2010

TAKE ARAKAKI!! He is awesome at explaining details and preparing you for the real world. I am glad that I took him for 402, 440, and 533. If you plan on going into RF you should definitely take Arakaki.

Senior
B
Required (Major)
May 2011

Completely unaware of what topics are important to emphasize in class, midterms are not representative of what is emphasized in course lectures. Very unprepared, presents material needed for the midterm and homework either the day before or a few hours before it is due.

EE 533

Graduate Student
A
Elective
Jul 2011

Quite possibly the worst professor I've had. I took him for a total of four classes but this one was especially brutal.
He usually arrives late and spends the first 10 minutes writing the daily agenda on the board. This is somewhat confusing because I can count on one hand the number of times he actually made it through every single item.
The red ink on the lab reports would be okay if he had something constructive to say. Instead he marks you down for things like graphs being the "wrong size" or "unprofessional language" (don't say "voltage drop", say "voltage decrease"). These requirements are also inconsistent with every other professor in the department. To make it worse, he won't give a list of things that he wants to see in a lab report; you'll need to figure out what he doesn't want through trial and error.
He seems cheerful and approachable at first, but just wait until until he gets angry, whether it's from a lower than usual test average or just some offhand comment. I have NEVER seen a professor treat students so condescendingly.
As for EE533, this is tough material regardless of who teaches it. But rather than focusing on understanding he instead beats you down with endless derivations. The problem sets were nothing but derivations either and the only way I was able to grasp the physical meaning of what I was working through was to look to outside sources.
I looked over every other negative review and each one of them is very believable. Heed my warning and the warning of others: DO NOT TAKE ARAKAKI

Graduate Student
B
Required (Major)
Apr 2012

OK OK OK OK OK OK OK.... this is all you will hear from this guy. He mumbles to himself all the time and acts disgruntled at everything. Every problem in the problem-sets were to derive this from that and prove this and that. Even after taking this course with a B+, I still have no clue what an antenna actually is. I felt I simply retook vector calculus from scratch just to derive everything form Maxwell's EQ.

5th Year Senior
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2013

If you don't know Arakaki by now then you're better off not taking a course instructed by him. Your returned work will probably be twice the thickness of what you turned in because of all the "corrections" made. The materials for this course was especially tough because it was presented in a manner that Arakaki deemed the "proper way." The Stutzman book was really difficult to follow compared to the Balanis book due to the lack of examples and explanations on how things actually work. The HW problems were revised problems from the Stutzman book, so if you were stuck just find the solutions manual. Arakaki went as far as allowing us to have an "open-book and open-notes" exam, but the average of the exam still ended-up at the mid-50s out of a 100, go figure why. A fair warning about 20% of your total grade: DO NOT take the final design project lightly and begin as soon as he hands out the specs requirements (planar array design of 125MHz on a circular surface). If you do not have any experience with MATLAB on loops/mesh/3D plots then your life will be very very very miserable for the last four weeks of school figuring out why your script doesn't work. In our section, no one was able to present a fully completed demo of the project because of that. PRO-TIP: Buy the Balanis book, it's totally worth the $ and Wikipedia will be your best-friend because it does a way better job on explaining everything than Arakaki can. Good luck, junior!

MATE 570

Freshman
C
Required (Major)
Nov 2016

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can

EE 599

Graduate Student
N/A
Required (Major)
Aug 2013

This egoistic guy is a disgrace to Cal Poly's name. Do not expect graduating on time with him being your thesis/project advisor. Consider yourself warned. ?_?